Facebook Adds Videos, Photos & Link Previews to Comments

by Brenna Ehrlich

Facebook has made commenting a richer experience by adding video, photo and website info. It’s a small change, but a rather cosmetic one.

This would have been particularly useful for me the other day. A friend had posted something on Facebook about Weezer, and I felt the urge to tell that friend that the band was hosting a cruise in January. So I commented with a link to a story about the event. The result? An ugly, sprawling URL marring her wall.

This week though, Facebook made a small tweak to cure this. Now, when you comment on a post with a URL, Facebook will pull in a video player, a thumbnail or an overview of the website that you’re linking to. You can also choose to nix the preview.

The change isn’t life-altering, but it certainly makes your wall much lovelier.

Path Finally Adds Comments to iPhone App

 by Jennifer Van Grove

The “private network” startup Path released an update Monday to its iPhone app that finally adds comments to the service. Path Chat, as the comment feature is called, will find its way to users who update to version 1.4.

Path Chat is a simple addition that adds traditional commenting to an otherwise untraditional service. Prior to the update, users could only provide feedback on photos by sharing an “emotion” or sending the contact a text message.

Path has faced criticism for some of its seemingly odd restrictions or limitations, such as 10-second video. Still, the startup appears to be growing in popularity and is now well-positioned to iterate and hire at a rapid pace with $8.65 million in fresh funding.